The Three Musketeers

One year after breaking into the secret vault of Leonardo Da Vinci to steal plans for a flying war machine for France only to be betrayed by the duplicitious Milady de Winter (Milla Jovovich), the thee most famous Musketeers Athos (Matthew Macfadyen), Porthos (Ray Stevenson), and Aramis (Luke Evans) find themselves down on their luck only to be roused back into action by the impetuous and cocky young D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman).

The screenplay from Alex Litvak and Andrew Davies far more resembles a braindead action flick than the original tale of Alexandre Dumas. As you’d expect from director Paul W.S. Anderson style and ridiculous action sequences involving flying boats take precedence over story at every turn as the Musketeers try to save their foppish king (Freddie Fox), prevent a war, get revenge on Milady, and relive their glory days.

Plots by threats both within and outside the government include Cardinal Richelieu (Christoph Waltz) who is scheming with Milady to force France into war with Britain and the very real threat of Duke of Buckingham (Orlando Bloom) and his army of new flying war machines.

To save the Queen (Juno Temple) the Musketeers travel to Britain at the bequest of her handmaiden (Gabriella Wilde) whom D’Artagnan has a little thing for, break into the Tower of London, retrieve the Queen’s jewels, stop the Cardinal’s plot to turn Buckingham into their patsy, and return in five days time to prevent a war.

Despite going all out to turn The Three Musketeers into a thrilling action-adventure with modern sensibilities the film isn’t all that thrilling. At times it isn’t even all that action-packed. Some of action sequences are passable (if admittedly ridiculous), and the acting has an extra-cheesy flavor some may enjoy. If all you’re looking for is a decidedly dumb and somewhat fun couple of hours The Three Musketeers can promise you the first but not necessarily the second.

Extras on the Blu-ray include audio commentary by director Paul W.S. Anderson and producers Jeremy Bolt, and Robert Kulzer, interactive behind-the-scenes videos which can be accessed as you watch the movie, a large collection of deleted and extended scenes, and featurettes on casting Orlando Bloom as a villain, Paul W.S. Anderson’s vision of The Three Musketeers, creating the 17th Century air ships, and shooting in Bavaria.